Ok I’m pretty excited about this one! We’re going to make our own shrinky dink bracelet charms out of recycled plastic containers. If you don’t know what shrinky dinks are, they are sheets of plastic that you can color on. Then when you heat the plastic up, they shrink to about a third of their size but retain the colored image. So we’re going to design our own bracelet charms on plastic and then shrink it down small enough to thread onto a bracelet. Then we’ll have our own custom bracelet!
I LOVE a good recycled craft. It makes me feel like I’m getting a second use out of something that would end up in a landfill otherwise. So for this craft be on the look out for plastic to-go containers that are made out of recycled plastic #6 or polystyrene (PS). Not all to-go containers are made out of polystyrene, so make sure the plastic has the recycled symbol #6 on it that is pictured below. You can also order sheets of polystyrene off Amazon instead if you can’t find a to-go container with the right plastic. I’ll link these sheets in the supplies section below.
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Supplies Needed to Make Shrinky Dink Bracelet Charms
- To-go containers made out of polystyrene – Check out the picture below to see the recycled symbol #6 to be looking for or just purchase these sheets of polystyrene that are linked here from Amazon
- Permanent markers – Linked here is a great pack of 30 permanent markers
- Scissors – Check out these titanium crafting scissors
- Hole punch
- Aluminum foil
- Beads and elastic thread – Check out this adorable bead kit. The beads are so pretty and fancy!
How to Make Custom Shrinky Dink Bracelet Charms
1. First, double check your plastic containers for the recycled plastic #6 polystyrene (PS) symbol. The shrinky effect WILL NOT happen if the plastic is not polystyrene.
2. Next use the scissors to cut the containers and remove any flat plastic piece to use for the charms. You’ll usually find flat pieces on the top and the bottom of the container. The sides of the container are usually curved and most likely would not work well for this project.
3. Cut the flat plastic into pieces that are about three times as big as the charm size that you want.
4. Then use the permanent markers to color your own pictures on the plastic.
5. Next, use the hole punch to punch a hole at the top of each of the plastic pieces
6. Next, line a baking sheet with aluminum foil and place the plastic pieces on the baking sheet.
7. Bake the plastic pieces in the oven at 325 F for 1-3 minutes. Keep an eye on them during this part. The plastic will shrink to about a third of its size and then lay flat.
8. Once the plastic lays flat, you should be able to pull the baking sheet out of the oven to allow it to cool and admire your shrunken bracelet charms.
9. Once cooled, thread your custom shrinky sink bracelet charms onto an elastic thread however you like. We added beautiful beads in between each of our bracelet charms to make the bracelet extra beautiful.
10. Then enjoy your custom bracelet!
We hope you loved this recycled craft as much as we did. If so, check out some of our other crafts that are linked below.
